1

 

If sin were a woman, there would be no doubt what she’d look like.

Long dark hair cascaded over her bare shoulders and caressed the strapless, elegant dress she wore, a dress that accentuated her voluptuous breasts. Nipping in at her waist, the red silk flowed to the bottom of her legs and over pretty toes that peeked out from high-heeled golden sandals.

When she made a motion to kick them off, Cain commanded, “Leave them on.” He paused. “Take everything else off.”

A gentle laugh as delicate as a whisper in the wind came from her. “Oh, Cain,” she drawled in a soft southern accent that instantly sent a flame to his groin and filled his entire body with desire.

“You know how much I love it when you strip for me.” He tossed his dinner jacket onto an armchair and glanced around.

The suite of rooms was large and opulent, and consisted of a bedroom and a sitting room connected by large double doors that stood open at present. The absence of windows made this the ideal place for a vampire’s residence, providing safety as well as privacy. Priceless works of art adorned the walls, and elegant furniture provided an atmosphere fit for a king. This was no cave dwelling despite its underground location. It was an impenetrable fortress.

The seductress made a step toward him, her body moving with the grace of a tigress approaching her prey. And Cain might as well have been her prey, albeit her very willing prey. Just as she was his.

When her lips parted, he caught sight of her fangs elongating.

“Starting without me, my love?” he asked, and gave a shake of his head, a gentle reprimand, while at the same time the beast inside him delighted at her primal reaction and readied itself to react in kind.

A vampire showing his fangs had only two reasons: hunger for blood or for sex.

And he was certain this beautiful specimen, who now brought her hands behind her back to lower the zipper of her dress, wasn’t hungry for blood. Although Cain wouldn’t mind biting her while he impaled her on his cock. The memory of it now manifested on his tongue. So sweet, so rich, so full of passion. A strange sense of longing and loss slammed into him, but the latter feeling vanished just as quickly and made way for more pleasurable thoughts.

His gums itched, and he allowed his own fangs to descend, readying himself for what was to come. Anticipation heated his body from the inside, dispelling once and for all the false belief that vampires were cold. Parting his lips, Cain made her aware of his desire for her, though he was certain that the red glow in his eyes had already given him away.

Blood pounding in his veins, he watched her peel the red fabric away from her torso. His breath hitched in his throat as she bared her rosy nipples, already hard and standing to attention, her hands casually stroking her skin as she pushed the dress lower past her hips. The dress bunched there for a moment, getting caught by her generous proportions, which, these days, were perhaps less common. Women with hourglass figures like hers were rare, and maybe that was one of the reasons Cain was so fascinated by her. So drawn to her.

He imagined his fingers digging into those hips, holding onto her as he pounded into her softness. The knowledge that he could take her as hard as he wanted, because she was nearly as strong as he, made his fingers want to turn into the claws of the beast that lived inside him. But he pushed back the urge, not wanting to mar the flawless skin that stretched over her tantalizing flesh. Nor did he want to remind her of the violence in her past, the pain she’d endured at the hands of a cruel master. Never again would he allow anybody to hurt her. Not even he himself.

“More!” Cain demanded now and noticed the change in his voice. The hoarseness in it attested to his aroused state. He dropped his lids, glancing at the front of his pants. The bulge there was hard to overlook. He wasn’t trying to hide it from her. He wanted to show her what she did to him, what the extent of her power over him was.

“Oh, I don’t know if you can take any more.” A saucy smile underscored her words.

He took a step toward her, while his hands got busy ridding himself of his bowtie and shirt in vampire speed. He threw both on the armchair to keep his jacket company.

“Impatient much?”

“Do as I say!” Cain ordered, his chest heaving with the effort it cost him to keep a modicum of civility when inside him the vampire raged with the need to take her, to make her his.

Elegant hands pushed the dress over her hips, making the garment fall to the floor with a soft whoosh. But Cain didn’t look at what lay at her feet now. Instead, he stared at the dark triangle of hair that guarded her sex.

Mouth watering, his eyes lifted to her face. “You weren’t wearing anything underneath.”

She acknowledged his observation with a sinful smile.

Stepping out of the dress, she strode toward him, her high heels clicking on the hardwood floor, echoing in the vast windowless space.

His cock was rigid now, pressing painfully against his zipper. Instinctively, his hand went to it, but she was faster. The warmth of her palm engulfed him instantly, sending a thrill through his entire body that made his control dance on a blade’s edge. Lust impregnated the air and made it hum.

“You have a present for me?” she murmured, and rubbed her body against him, while her hand squeezed the hardness in his pants.

“A present that keeps on giving.” Cain slid his hand to her nape, pulling her face to him so their lips were only a fraction of an inch apart. So close, yet so far away. “I missed you.”

Her breath bounced against his when she opened her mouth. He inhaled it, allowing her scent to fill his lungs and drug him. “What did you miss most? My lips on your cock? Me riding you? Your cock thrusting into me?”

Though he loved all of her suggestions, he countered, “I think you forgot something.” His fingers caressed one side of her neck, tracing the plump vein beneath her skin. Her pulse beat against the pad of his fingers, as if to signal him her acquiescence. “My fangs in your neck.”

An intake of breath pressed her chest firmer against his. “I didn’t forget. I always keep room for dessert.”

On her last word, Cain captured her lips and kissed her. There was nothing tentative or hesitant about the kiss, nor her reaction to it. He tasted her sweetness on his tongue as he delved into her and showed her who her master was. Yet she was no submissive. Her response to his kiss was that of an equal, a strong vampire female who knew what she wanted. He sensed it with every stroke of her tongue against his, with every glide of her lips against his mouth—and every thrust of her hips against his groin. She wanted him, and that knowledge only added to his desire for her.

Cain’s fingers fanned, sliding up higher into her hair, cupping the back of her head. Her dark silken tresses caressed his hand, reminding him of previous encounters such as this. Reminding him of having found ecstasy in her arms before.

Her soft sighs drifted to his ears, while her rapid heartbeat reverberated in his chest, echoing his. His other hand now drifted lower, sliding over the curve of her back down to her shapely ass. As he palmed it and yanked her harder to him, she moaned into his mouth, before her tongue swiped against his fang.

Panting heavily, Cain ripped his lips from her. “Fuck!”

Licking a vampire’s fangs was the most erotic thing a vampire could experience—short of having full-blown sex. And even though she’d licked his fangs before, the intense pleasure now coursing through his body almost undid him.

“I know you want it,” she coaxed, looking at him seductively.

He ground out a curse, grabbed her and took a few steps toward the wall, where he pressed her against it, all patience gone, vanished into thin air. “Have it your way.”

Then he captured her lips again. This would be a short interlude if she continued to use her wiles on him like this. But, damn it to hell, he didn’t want to stop her. Instead, he attempted to open his pants with one hand, until he felt her hands on him, helping him. Clearly, she was as impatient as he.

Moments later, his tuxedo pants fell to the floor. He still wore his dress shoes, but didn’t have the patience to take them or his socks off. Instead, his pants pooled around his ankles. They wouldn’t hinder him in his movements—not the kind of movements he was about to engage in anyway.

Cain gripped her thighs and lifted her up, while pressing her back against the wall. He spread her legs wide open, exposing her drenched sex. He looked down, then drew his hips back and adjusted his angle. When his cockhead touched the outer lips of her sex, he inhaled sharply. He’d been right: this wouldn’t take long at all.

“I need it,” she encouraged him. “I need you.”

Cain plunged into her without preamble, seating himself in her warm channel, his balls slapping against her flesh, burning from the impact. The first time was always like this, intense, urgent. Later tonight he’d take his time with her, but right now he needed to still his hunger for her.

Air rushed out of her lungs. “Cain! Yes!”

She was perfect, better than anything else in his life. As if she was the solution to all his problems, all his worries. As if she could make everything right again.

His eyes met hers and, slowly, Cain began to thrust. Her green eyes now glowed red, a sign that her vampire side was ruling her. A feeling of possessiveness came over him, and the thought that she could ever be in another man’s arms again stirred the beast inside him. Anger churned up from his gut, and he growled like an animal.

“You’re mine!”

Her eyes flashed brightly, before she tilted her head to the side, baring her pale neck. “Then make me yours.”

Without thinking, he drove his fangs into her neck, piercing her hot skin. Rich blood touched his fangs and filled his mouth. While the blood ran down his throat, coating it, farther down, his own blood pounded in his veins, filling his cock even more. And with every draw from her vein and every thrust into her pussy, the wildness in him grew.

For an instant, he removed his fangs, wanting to tell her what she meant to him. He parted his lips, wanting to speak, but her name didn’t roll over his lips. He tried again, but there was only emptiness. He stared into her eyes and saw confusion there.

“Who are you?” he whispered.

Disbelief colored her eyes, but before her lips gave him an answer, a sharp pain pierced his skull. Still inside her, he arrested his movements.

His vision darkened. Cain brought one hand to his face and felt the sticky, warm liquid that ran over his face. He smelled it, too. The metallic scent was unmistakable.

Blood. Blood coming from his skull. He brought his hand up and felt the hole there. Blood gushed from it.

“No!” she screamed. “No! Don’t leave me!”

He couldn’t see her face anymore, and suddenly his hands were gripping nothing, as if she had slipped from his grasp. He searched for her in the darkness, but all he felt was a void. Despair. Hopelessness.

Was he dead?

“Nooooooo!” Cain screamed.

But she didn’t answer him. She was gone.

Suddenly his vision cleared and a light source drew his attention. Something blinked in red. He focused his eyes. Numbers appeared before them. 07:24. He stared at the apparition. It took a second to realize that he was looking at a digital clock.

Cain shot up to a seated position.

Gone was the room he’d been in, replaced by a bedroom with little personal effects. No opulence. No luxury. Just a simple bedroom with a large bed, a dresser, and a chair with casual clothes somebody had tossed onto it. No tuxedo in sight.

Cain ran a shaky hand through his ultra-short hair and realized he was bathed in sweat.

Regret filled him. It had been a dream, all of it: the woman, the room, the blood.

Nothing was real. Just like Cain himself. Because how could he be real when he didn’t remember anything about his past?

For several months now he’d had these dreams. Different ones, but all involving the same woman, and all ending the same way: with blood gushing from his head. As if they were a warning somebody was trying to send him. Or a message from the past.

Cain swung his legs out of bed and shook his head. Wishful thinking! A little over a year ago he’d woken up one night without a memory. All he remembered was a male voice. Your name is Cain, the man had said. As much as he’d tried to find out about his past, he’d come up empty.

The dreams were haunting him, dangling pieces of information in front of him, yet never letting him get close enough to grab one and examine it. It had made him irritable and unpredictable. His colleagues at Scanguards, where he worked as a bodyguard, had started noticing and avoided him whenever he was in one of his dark moods.

And just now, one of those dark moods was washing over him, lashing despair and hopelessness at him like a torturer whipping him with a flogger. Pain crippled his body and made him want to inflict the same pain on others. But there was nobody on whom to let out his anger.

A ringing sound suddenly pierced the silence of his bedroom. He turned to the bedside table and reached for his cell phone.

“Yeah?”

“Where the fuck are you?” The deep, pissed-off voice belonged to Amaury, one of his superiors at Scanguards.

Rage boiled up in Cain. He didn’t like Amaury’s tone, nor did he like being questioned about his whereabouts. He hated being ordered around.

“What the fuck do you want?” Cain replied, raising his voice.

“You’re supposed to be patrolling tonight!” Amaury growled. “And don’t take that fucking attitude with me. I’m your boss!”

Cain jumped up and slammed his fist into the drywall, leaving a dent there. “I need no boss! I’m my own master!” The moment he said it, he knew it was true. He wasn’t used to having anybody tell him what to do. He was used to giving the orders.

On the other end of the line, Amaury breathed heavily before giving his response. “Fine! You wanna have it out, once and for all? I’m sick of your attitude lately. I think it’s time we had a chat so you understand who’s in charge here.”

The way he spoke made it clear to Cain that this would be a very physical kind of chat.

“My place. In ten minutes, or you’re on your own.”

“You got it!” Cain responded to the open challenge.

A fist fight with the linebacker-sized vampire was just what he needed right now. Maybe then he’d feel better.